This Is Us

  We had to drain the water out of the pool this year so we could put clean water in and adjust the support poles. Nick ended up having to go out of town for work so I needed some help getting some more bricks put under the poles. Xander and his best friend Cairo went to the hardware store, bought the bricks for me, and then put them under the poles. It may not seem like a lot, but for me it was a huge help and I grateful appreciated them taking time to help me.

  We have been having problems with our cat and bugs getting into our garden beds this year.  I read that sprinkling cinnamon on the soil will keep them out.  Cats and pests don't like the strong smell of cinnamon.  Cinnamon also has antibacterial and antifungal properties which helps control plant diseases, umm hello... How wonderful is that?!  It can also help roots grow on cuttings. If you sprinkle cinnamon on your seed starting blocks it will help your seeds start out their journey healthy, as it helps prevent diseases. To use it on cuttings, lightly dust the cut end of your cuttings before planting. I will be sprinkling cinnamon on our garden beds and seed starting blocks every spring from now on!  Who's with me?  

  Our first gardening beds weren't tall because we didn't have to fill them up with much.  However, it was hard to pick the fruits/veggies, pull weeds, and made my back sore. So Nick has added metal to some of the boxes and built some new boxes taller.  We put cinder blocks and branches in them, then we filled them with dirt.  We moved the strawberries over and planted other stuff in the other new beds..  This will make it so much easier to garden out of. Hopefully we can get the rest of the garden boxes adjusted to taller ones and get other things growing in them.  It's so nice to have them taller... I love them so much!

It's starting to get warmer!  I am so excited for the warm weather.  It was so nice today that we spent some time out in our front yard! For Mother's Day last year, I got  This Patio Set .  I wanted one so we could sit in the front yard and have some shade. It was so nice to be able to sit in the front yard and watch my kids play.

  For our photo challenge today, since it's St. Patrick's Day we chose Green as the prompt. We have a fun day of having green food, wearing green, and watching a movie.  You can read all about our St. Patrick's Day Parties  HERE . Here is some green from our yard.  It's a nice sunny day today.  It's not warm, but it's not cold or windy either.  The kids have spent most of the afternoon outside.  It's been wonderful!

it’s been raining most of the night, so our ground is covered in wet and puddles. There is also a little left-over  snow, piles of leaves, kid’s toys, sleeping grass, dead flowers, but there are a few signs of spring starting to come up. Day 15 for our photo challenge we picked On The Ground. I wish we could post about sand on the ground because we are on vacation to a warm beach, but I can't because we are not.  One of my favorite songs is Dirt by Florida Georgia Line.  Have you ever heard it? If not here is the link to their official video  Dirt, by Florida Georgia Line . It's a good song. Here is our ground today…

  Tomorrow is National learn about butterflies day and it's also Tyler's birthday and pi day.  So, I decided that for our photo challenge I would have today be about butterflies. In 2020 when you know what hit and the kids had to do school from home, Lydia's teacher gave them some caterpillars to raise at home.  So I have some photos of those butterflies and some others from wild butterflies that have landed on the kids.  Oh, Lydia also raised some in her 2nd or 3rd grade class. Fun facts about butterflies: They range in size from 1/8 inch to 12 inches. People believe that they can only see the colors Red, Green, and Yellow They have four wings and six legs. They eat nectar and fruit. They can fly up to 12 mph. They cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86. Their wings are transparent. They taste with their feet. They smell with their antennae. They are the second largest group of pollinators. They rest with their wings closed. They are fou...

  For Mother’s Day I got a new patio table with an umbrella and chairs, for the front yard. I’ve wanted something that I could sit at with shade to be with the kids while they are playing out front. I love it so much! It’s exactly what I wanted! We bought it at Target. The umbrella isn’t as big as I thought it was going to be, but it’s okay.

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  In August 2018 (after our 20th anniversary trip to Germany & France) we took the kids to Moab. We decided to stop in Price first and stay the night (Nick got rooms online before we even left) and then stayed in Moab for several days. We went to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. It was hot, but we had lots of water.  It was a really nice trip and fun to get away with the kids before school started.